A station may be configured to communicate wirelessly by establishing a connection with a network via an access point (AP). The station may associate with the network through the AP using association procedures. The station may include a connection application that is executed to perform this functionality of associating with the network. When more than one network and/or more than one AP is available for association, the station may connect to any one of these APs using a variety of criteria. In a particular example relating to a load criteria, attempts to connect to an AP that is fully or almost fully loaded may result in blacklisting the network since the AP denies all association attempts, thereby eliminating further attempts by the station to connect to the network. In an attempt to steer these stations to better networks, the AP may send de-authentication information to the station assuming the connection application will connect to a different network via other APs.
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has provided a standard set under 802.11 that determine a manner in which a station is capable of associating with a network via the AP. Specifically, 802.11v provides a mechanism where an AP steers the station to intended networks based on load, available bandwidth, and other network characteristics. However, this mechanism has the potential to make the AP steer the station to different networks frequently. When associating with a network, a basic service set (BSS) of the associated AP is used. With the frequent changes in association from the steering mechanism, frequency BSS transitions also result. This may lead to using additional power, disrupting any user activity like browsing, etc.